‘Absolutely dumping’: More than 40cm of snow kick starts NSW, Victoria ski season

Ski resorts across the NSW Snowy Mountains have been blanketed by a whopping 45cm of snow, in a strong start to the official ski season.

Perisher ski resort recorded 25cm of fresh snow falling overnight and continuing to fall, bringing the long-weekend total to 45cm.

More snow was expected to fall on Sunday across the range, with a north-westerly wind and temperatures topping only -1C.

The snowfall comes at a welcome time for the ski resorts after a difficult few years, with Perisher posting on social media that Saturday night was an “absolutely dumping”.

The Bureau of Meteorology was reporting snowfall in the Australian Alps on Sunday above 900m as a high in Western Australia brought strong winds to north NSW.

Meanwhile, a cold front was sweeping across southern NSW, with several more fronts expected to follow before a high-pressure ridge settles over NSW next week.

The early season dusting was quick to light up social media, with people commenting that it was an “amazing weekend” and a “great start” to the ski season.

Thredbo ski resort was forecasting a high chance of snow on Monday, with Sunday’s dusting having blanketed the ski fields nestled into Mt Kosciuszko.

Across the border, Mt Hotham resort reported a whopping 51cm of snow so far a storm there, with 32cm falling in the past 24 hours.

Snow was still lightly falling at the resort on Sunday morning, with the temperature dipping to a frigid -3C.

The NSW snow season ended earlier for the second year in a row in 2024 after one of the warmest winters on record.

The Bureau reported above average winter mean temperatures across the state, in particular in the south and parts of the east coast.